By Jill Grosman (EA Carolina Meadows Resident)

My husband and I love to travel and have had the good fortune to travel a lot. We are hopeful that we will be able to do so again. For the last few months, I have been looking though the many photo books that we have put together over the years and thinking about where I would most like to visit one more time. After much soul searching, I have narrowed my list to three places I would really love to see and explore again. One caveat. In narrowing down my choices I did not include places in the USA, Canada, France or Switzerland because those are places where we have family and post Covid will visit sometime in the future.

Egypt is the place I would most like to see again. You cannot see Egyptian temples along the Nile anywhere else in the world. Sure, you see Egyptian artifacts at the Louvre, in the British Museum and probably many other museums but all are climate controlled and totally different. You can even visit a smaller temple that has been moved to Madrid, but to visit the Valley of the Kings and walk into the tombs with the heat and the sand is magical. Even more powerful is seeing the Temple at Luxor late in the afternoon with the sky a brilliant blue streaked with oranges and red, reflecting on the many columns, figures, and paintings. Driving from the coast (Port Safaga), in a caravan with armed guards on our buses, and watching the people who live in the many communities that farm the areas next to the Nile was an amazing experience. Having taken an Egyptian art course at UNCG back in the 1960’s and being a docent at the NCMA, which has an Egyptian Collection has kept my appetite whetted. I would like to expand my two day experiences into one more that includes Alexandria, Cairo and a cruise along the Nile to Abu Simbel.

Next on my re-visit list is Australia. We have had the good fortune to travel to that country twice and on our last trip we spent a month. It is a long flight. Once you go you need to stay awhile and we did. We flew to Uluru in the center of the country and did day trips out of Sydney before doing a cruise all around the country. I have snorkeled at the Great Barrier Reef, toured the Sydney opera house and been to Canberra, Australia’s capital. I would do it all again. I want to go back to Melbourne, Perth and other places we have visited or not yet seen. Australia has friendly laid-back people, an interesting landscape and different wildlife.

Last, but certainly not least, is Israel. We have been twice but there is so much more I would like to see and experience. As an art student and one who loves reading history, I think there are few places that I have been that compare to Israel.

For now, I will dream of these possible adventures and hope for a traveling future.